South London Ordnance - He Do The Police In Different Voices

Label: Aery Metals

South London Ordnance has made a name for himself off the back of a series of impressive genre hybrids, infusing techno structures with bustling accents of the UK tradition; from the warm chords in the staccato Roofy to the roiling energy of Trojan’s sweeping bassline and distorted vocals. Now SLO opens the doors of his own Aery Metals imprint with his most substantial offering to date; three original tracks, two collaborations and three remixes brought together in a big Eliot-referencing package. Yet perhaps because of its maximalist intentions, He Do The Police In Different Voices is not quite the breakthrough release one might have hoped.

Obsidian

Any artist would be hard-pressed to fill an EP with eight tracks of consistent quality, and this is exactly where SLO’s latest suffers, with the collaborations and canny choices of remixers impressing more than the original cuts ever do. The collabs are indeed the record’s high point, with Brolin’s vocal turn on opener Black Acre adding a soulful dimension to a melancholic mood piece crafted with skittering percussion and sonorous synthwork. Yet on his own, SLO is less successful; his three original productions all suffer from the dual problems of formula and length. Floating World, System and digital exclusive Modular Splash are all competent techno burners, yet none of them offer anything out of the ordinary, while each 8-9 minute runtime doesn’t seem earned considering the lack of structural progression on the tracks. The only original production to rival Black Acre is Obsidian, a collaboration with Finland’s Femme En Fourrure, a stronger piece with a clear sense of direction and momentum, building up a strong groove over growling low-end and twitching, technicolour synthlines.

Black Acre (Chris Carter Remix)

While the choices of remixers are rather inspired, the end results are, once more, a mixed bag. First up Factory Floor’s Nik Colk Void turns in a whirring rework of Modular Splash in an ultra-minimal turn sure to divide opinions. Optimo’s JD Twitch hits a home run with his remix of the same track, distending the original’s bassline into a queasy, powerful groove under a bed of quavering, chopped-up vox. The piece also shows what SLO’s productions lack in structure, justifying its 8-minute runtime with a clear series of sonic shifts, as the track turns into a free-form construction of distorted vocals and seething synths over its final minutes. Finally Throbbing Gristle’s Chris Carter inverts Black Acre into a grumbling noise odyssey which oozes menace, as the original’s refrain moves in and out of focus in a nervy, unsettling soundfield. It feels a shame that, given the quality of some of these reworks and collaborations, the original cuts are adequate yet never extraordinary. The result is that on his label’s debut release, South London Ordnance has been somewhat outshone.

6.5/10

Various Artists – Future Foundations

Label: 2^nd Drop

Since its inception focusing on leftfield dubstep in 2007, 2^nd Drop has done a remarkable job of keeping up with the scene, seemingly always a step ahead. While their releases haven’t always garnered a huge amount of attention, it’s not for a lack of quality: over twenty releases they’ve tackled a broad array of styles along the bass spectrum with great releases from the likes of Ramadanman, Sully and Gerry Read, alongside key early releases from DjRum and South London Ordnance. For their first compilation, the London label sticks largely to 4/4 excursions, offering a varied and impressive selection of exclusive tunes from label alumni and newcomers alike.

Mancunian Alex Coulton kicks things off with his 2^nd Drop debut (following a nice slab of wax on Hypercolour) in the form of the percussive workout Grande Swing. Fans will recognise Coulton’s off-grid beat patterns and spare arrangement, here coming together in a tough house flex made of metallic clanks, scifi synthwork and a range of nuanced effects that keep things interesting. More club material is supplied by Pedestrian, whose uncharacteristically straight Sliding Down Rainbows is a menacing assault of shuttering beats and a nasty bass bounce, bristling with impressively coherent sonic details and a softened two-note synth loop that adds a key melodic element. Later penultimate inclusion Daphne marks South London Ordnance’s return to the label, with a tough techy exercise typically focused on the low-end.

Low-key house cuts with the requisite RnB vocal snips are provided by Youandewan and Last Magpie, a pair of producers who have both honed their atmospheric cuts down to a tee in the last few years. Youandewan’s Faith comes out as the more impressive number, breathing life into a familiar sample. Here he follows up a tasteful EP on Hypercolour with a spacious 9-minute odyssey of misty synthwork, rattling percussive accents and mood to spare. Last Magpie takes a similar approach on the downbeat Without You, all rattling 2step, ghosted vocals and dubbed-out synth stabs, but without Youandewan’s effortless knack for atmosphere, his contribution ends up lacking a real sense of progression.

The three remaining tracks are the odd ones out, the tunes that sidestepped expectations somewhat. LV enlist the honeyed reggae vocal chops of Dan Bowskill for a sensuous burner on Livin Up, where syrupy horns and soft vocal harmonies make for a surprising oasis amidst the compilation’s harder dance material. The closer is left to Manni Dee & Deft, who throw a curveball with the frantic workout of This One, The Art of the Possible. Despite the vocal sample’s discussion of garage and hardcore, this one is all about footwork, an impressively structured and distinctively British take on the genre.

While many of these are great offerings, 2^nd Drop regular DjRum effortlessly steals the show with his phenomenal Blue On Blue (Voodoo). A stunning collage of pitch-perfect vocal and musical samples are twinned with growling bassweight and off-kilter rhythms, all patched together into a lush symphonic piece which descends in its finale quarter into a beautiful collision of dubbed-out vocals and operatic harmonies. Given time, Blue On Blue takes the proud place of a highlight among highlights. Overall there’s not much material here to challenge what we know as the 2^nd Drop sound, Future Foundations is more a feat of consolidation, drawing together the label’s different styles and returning to some its past contributors. As such, it stands as a consistent and enjoyable dissection of one of London’s definite labels that clearly still has so much left to give.

7.5/10

Best Breakthrough Artists of 2012

Year End Coverage

* Best Albums of 2012

* Best EPs of 2012

* Best Labels of 2012

* Best Breakthrough Artists of 2012

* Best Tracks of 2012 - 101-76
* Best Tracks of 2012 - 75-51
* Best Tracks of 2012 - 50-26
* Best Tracks of 2012 - 25-1

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It gets harder every year for new artists to rise up and gain prominence through the fickle hype machine of the internet, in a world where every other Soundcloud user is an anonymous figure copying tired genre tropes. But it's clearer than ever that the one thing that will really get you noticed is quality tunes.

Not all of these are new artists, but for all of these producers this was the year where they truly broke into the limelight, capturing our hearts and imaginations here at White Noise. Because these artists have such diverse tastes and sounds, they will be listed alphabetically to save having to place them in a meaningless order. Without further ado, here are our favourite breakthrough artists of the year. Enjoy!

Bicep

 

Vision of Love

90’s house revivalism reached its peak (so far…) this year, but Northern Irish duo Bicep’s astonishing rise to prominence in the dance scene this year was more than a case of being in the right place at the right time. Coming from the success of their Feel My Bicep blog, the pair put out the excellent $tripper white label on Love Fever, where deep New Jersey pads and a jackin’ beat put the pair firmly on the map. They continued the thread in style with the inaugural release on their own Feel My Bicep label, Vision of Love, which offered three massive slices of feelgood throwback, and spawned the ubiquitous title track. But let’s not forget the duo proved themselves a cut above a simple throwback outfit with the superb You / Don’t EP on Aus, which offered two strikingly modern collaborations that explored more contemporary strains of the UK House sound.

Bondax

Baby I Got That

Young UK duo Bondax came to our attention at the beginning of the year with sugar-sweet bass numbers All Inside and Wet Summer. But it was their September release Baby I Got That which cemented the pair’s talents, an infectious bass / disco hybrid that was one of the year’s essential summer tunes. With a perfect synthesis of clipped vocal snips with longer hooks and bubbling, upbeat melodies, the pair have so far managed to conjure catchy tunes without ever venturing into total Pop territory. With the upcoming release of Gold on Just Us / Relentless in January, it looks like there’s a lot more to be excited about for Bondax in 2013.

Disclosure

 

Flow

Guy and Howard Lawrence couldn’t have possibly predicted the rise to fame that their Disclosure outfit has brought them in the space of a single year. Fusing garage and classic house tropes with bass trappings and more than a touch of pop, the duo’s productions have achieved a crossover success that’s perhaps not that surprising given the sheer quality of their tunes. While Latch and some of their Face EP were a little poppy for White Noise’s tastes, there was no arguing with their Jessie Ware Remix or the brilliant Tenderly / Flow single from the beginning of the year.

Dusky

Flo Jam

The Dusky duo of Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman have been producing together for years now, including an album as Dusky on Anjunadeep in 2011. But this year, thanks to some killer tunes and being played by the right DJs, the pair have broken into the big leagues. Dusky produced more bangers than almost anyone else this year, including the emotive epic Lost Highway, Flo Jam’s irresistible bounce and the bassy garage swing of No More. The pair pluck equally from house and garage but the end product is always polished and unpretentious, precision-built for the dancefloor. With their great new release Calling Me on Loefah's School imprint, there are surely big things to come.

Huxley

 

Let It Go

Huxley scored a high place on our Top Tunes of 2011 with the fantastic Shower Scene, but this year the house magician from Tring showed his true colours, prolifically putting out a series of unashamed big-room house numbers, with the sharp beats and big basslines to match those fantastic vocal hooks. He opened up the year with the ridiculously large Let It Go and didn’t let up, with an onslaught of other great tunes like Box Clever on the Out Of The Box EP.  With clear production chops and the consistency to match, Huxley nimbly stepped into the big leagues this year, and he doesn't look like he'll be leaving anytime soon.

Indigo

Symbol 7.1

The Mindset boss put out his first release back in 2008, but this year has really marked a breakthrough for Indigo. With a history of tasty collaborations with like-minded producer Synkro, Indigo put out a series of stellar releases for Exit, Hype Ltd and Apollo that showed a unique talent for combining twitchy beatscience with lush ambient soundscapes. Nowhere was this more evident than on his White Noise Picked Symbol 7 EP for Auxiliary, where the producer hopped nimbly between Oriental strings, impeccably precise drum patterns and pure ambient dread.

Leon Vynehall

Picture Frame

Brighton’s Vynehall turned quite a few heads recently, shining out amongst the legions of upstarts who were toying with the House formula. His debut EP, Mauve on Well Rounded, set the scene with warm soundscapes and slow beats that referenced classic House without ever seeming like pure throwback. But it was over the summer on his superb single Gold Language / Don’t Know Why for ManMakeMusic that Vynehall showed his true colours, producing a lush and genre-defying dance track on the A and one of this year’s most supremely chilled dance cuts on the B. With a return to WRHP due in the new year with the Rosalind EP, the future is looking very promising.

South London Ordnance

Trojan

Appearing out of nowhere, SLO has had a monumental first year. A prolific release schedule didn’t stop every tune from being of the highest quality, releasing big House numbers on Well Rounded and deeper Bass numbers for the likes of Teal Recordings. Wherever he turned, SLO’s productions all paid careful attention to the lower frequencies, with a keen bass-focus adding flavour to his elastic rhythms. Some slave for years on a single tune, in 2012 SLO was making superb music straight out of the box.

Tom Demac

Critical Distance Pt. 2

Although his debut was as far back as 2004, Tom Demac turned it up a notch in 2012. The producer put out an insane amount of releases this year, often on Hypercolour or its offshoots. He proved himself a versatile House producer, with highlights ranging from the lush Obstructing the Light EP on Glass Table to the monstrous Critical Distance Pt. 2, which was considered at White Noise HQ one of the year’s very best tunes.

Vessel

Court of Lions

As the only producer on this list who isn’t dedicated to the dancefloor, Vessel stands out about as much on this list as he did from his peers over the course of the year. White Noise has taken an interest in Sebastian Gainsborough since the beginning, but it appears the Wax Dance and Standard EPs were paving the way for something very special indeed. The producer’s debut album for Tri Angle, Order of Noise, touched a nerve for us, as Vessel experimented with an embarrassment of styles to stellar effect.

Honourable Mentions:

These artists are definitely ones to watch for 2013, but didn’t quite release enough quality material to make the list this time round.

Citizen

 

Room Service

GoldFFinch

Funky Steppa

Happa

Freak

Helix

Honig

Locked Groove

Rooted

Lorca

Can’t See Higher